S.S.Oceanlover Posted June 25, 2006 #1 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Just got off the fantasy Saturday and the disembarking was a little different then last time i cruised on CCL. They no longer call colors. They just tell you that the ship is cleared and you may go ashore. While it was advised that you wait so you didn't have to stand in line of course everybody got up and tried to get off at the same time causing quite a logjam. I've never heard this mentioned here before. I know you can get off as soon as the ship is cleared if taking off your won luggage but this was the entire ship.:confused: Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picklebongo Posted June 25, 2006 #2 Share Posted June 25, 2006 I've never heard of such a thing, but I can see how this would result in a fairly chaotic situation with a lot of pushing and shoving. Did it seem to make things ultimately go faster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wennfred Posted June 25, 2006 #3 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Just got off the fantasy Saturday and the disembarking was a little different then last time i cruised on CCL. They no longer call colors. They just tell you that the ship is cleared and you may go ashore. While it was advised that you wait so you didn't have to stand in line of course everybody got up and tried to get off at the same time causing quite a logjam. I've never heard this mentioned here before. I know you can get off as soon as the ship is cleared if taking off your won luggage but this was the entire ship.:confused: Bill This is what they call Self Assist, only U.S. Passengers can take advantage of this disembarkation. It goes pretty well. And they usually keep it open till 9:30am so you can take your time getting off. Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zydecocruiser Posted June 25, 2006 #4 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Not self-assist. Some ships disembark like this. They don't call decks or colors. I think when I sailed on Valor in 2005, it was like this. I still waited on the ship for a while by choice. I'm in no hurry to leave. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.S.Oceanlover Posted June 25, 2006 Author #5 Share Posted June 25, 2006 This is what they call Self Assist, only U.S. Passengers can take advantage of this disembarkation. It goes pretty well. And they usually keep it open till 9:30am so you can take your time getting off. Fred Fred, I've read about the self assist and was considering doing it myself, but they just released everybody at once. Even if you had put your bags out the night before, as soon as they said the ship was cleared by immigration everyone was free to go. Pickle, I screwed up by waiting in the library as the masses stormed the gangway. My flight wasn't until 2pm so I figured I'd wait it out. We were doing fine until the bomb scare which shut down the port for about 30 minutes. Then they let 100 people go at a time. Then a 10 minute wait and another 100. We finally got in line and didn't get off til close to noon. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wennfred Posted June 25, 2006 #6 Share Posted June 25, 2006 We were doing fine until the bomb scare which shut down the port for about 30 minutes. Oh great, please don't tell me that they release that stupid 19 year old girl for prison already?:mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.S.Oceanlover Posted June 25, 2006 Author #7 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Oh great, please don't tell me that they release that stupid 19 year old girl for prison already?:mad: Nope not yet! I think somebody in their haste forgot to put all their luggage in the car and drove off without all of it. Since it was just sitting in the parking lot unattended they had to take every precaution and make sure it wasn't a bomb. Thankfully it was a false alarm. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingb Posted June 25, 2006 #8 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Fred,I've read about the self assist and was considering doing it myself, but they just released everybody at once. Even if you had put your bags out the night before, as soon as they said the ship was cleared by immigration everyone was free to go. Pickle, I screwed up by waiting in the library as the masses stormed the gangway. My flight wasn't until 2pm so I figured I'd wait it out. We were doing fine until the bomb scare which shut down the port for about 30 minutes. Then they let 100 people go at a time. Then a 10 minute wait and another 100. We finally got in line and didn't get off til close to noon. Bill S.S. Oceanlover, We had the same thing happen on the Glory in May but we were already aboard and didn't know about it until next morning at breakfast. It delayed boarding for about an hour or more. This was also a piece of someones luggage, but not anymore! They exploded it in their bomb thinga-ma-gigger. :eek: Guess they won't be so careless anymore. Better safe than sorry. Our Homeland Security at work. Glad everything turned out allright. Luv's Crusin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipty2 Posted June 25, 2006 #9 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Fred, I've done self-assist and I am not a U.S. passenger. Is that new? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_duck Posted June 25, 2006 #10 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Fred, I've done self-assist and I am not a U.S. passenger. Is that new? LOL, I think Fred has been on so many cruises he either doesn't go to or pay attention at the debarkation talks. That was the rule when self-assist first started and was in the experimental stage, it didn't apply when I was on the Triumph in March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare silentbob007 Posted June 25, 2006 #11 Share Posted June 25, 2006 So is Carnival trying to go "freestyle" with embarkation? That just doesn't seem like a good idea. It's kind of like being at the airport ... some people will scratch and claw to be the first one's on, then they will scratch and claw to be the first ones off. It doesn't seem like it would be very convenient for those who don't want to do self-assist and have earlier flights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imlulu Posted June 25, 2006 #12 Share Posted June 25, 2006 They did that on the Miracle in Feb 05. We waited until 9:15. It was wonderful. You did not have to fight for seats in breakfast buffet. We waited in our cabin. I hope they do this on the Victory next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunkie103 Posted June 25, 2006 #13 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Getting off the Fantasy was a disaster for us too last month. We were on the Empress Deck and were doing self assist. The complete lobby was blocked by people trying to be first off. DH wrote a litter to Uncle Bob mentioning what a potential for disaster this could be. Got a nice letter back promising to attempt a remedy. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsjc Posted June 25, 2006 #14 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Disney did this a couple of years ago. About 7:30am they made the announcement that the ship had cleared customs and that you could disembark at you own leisure. That was it, no calling colors. It was nice; no one was really fighting to be the first one off. Most people were eating and taking their time. This was on the Disney Wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BND Posted June 25, 2006 #15 Share Posted June 25, 2006 On Fantasy last Nov that is how we disembarked. We waited about an hour in the Lido restaurant and let the "masses" rush the exit. We were taking the Auto Train and didnt' need to be in Sanford til after noon. It worked great for us. We were still backed up on the stairs, but for only about 15 minutes and then we were off and right through customs in another 5 minutes. And we were in Sanford at 11 so we stopped for lunch before heading to the train station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petro772 Posted June 25, 2006 #16 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Sounds like calling decks or colors is a thing of the past. May be a bit more hectic at first, but overall everyone gets off a little quicker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perkyblue Posted June 25, 2006 #17 Share Posted June 25, 2006 On the Legend last week, they did say that only US citizens could use the self-assist option. Maybe that's only when debarking at a US port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishDolphin Posted June 25, 2006 #18 Share Posted June 25, 2006 yea, fantasy got pretty bad there, no colors were called, but to add to it, immigrations/customs couldn't find a few foreigners and then their power went out for awhile, it was chaotic but what angered us was how it was a free for all with the elderly suffering the most (we are are talking getting pushed, no access to elevators, no announcements) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiHo Posted June 25, 2006 #19 Share Posted June 25, 2006 The Miracle has general debarkation but since I knew about it from reading the boards and knew there could be long lines, we just took our time getting off. We had a later flight so were not in a hurry so we went down to the photo gallery area and sat in some comfy sofas. Every now and then I would get up and go look over the railing to see if the lines had gone down. When I saw that there was no line anymore we got up and left the ship. We had to wait a few minutes at one point because they were only letting a certain number of people off at a time but other than that, it was painless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robintennis Posted June 25, 2006 #20 Share Posted June 25, 2006 We are sailing the Liberty Dec. 3....have been on well over a dozen cruises, I really don't count anymore....and have never heard of this type of debarkation. Sounds great to me though.....I would simply clear customs....go back up top, have a nice somewhat quiet breakfast, because most people would be jammed into the stairs/exit areas...and wait. I am in no hurry to leave. I will probably have a couple hour wait at the airport and in all honesty, it is much more comfortable enjoying the last bit of booze that I have smuggled on board and reliving my fabulous cruise. They pretty much have to kick me off the ship Robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunRae Posted June 25, 2006 #21 Share Posted June 25, 2006 and they did colors after the self-disembarkation. I'm not sure how closely the passengers followed them though...It was a mad house while they were disembarking the Empress and Verandah decks, but by the time they got to ours (Riviera aft) it wasn't bad at all. 'Course, we were also sitting at the Atrium bar by the time they called ours, so it might have been we just beat the rush. Hopefully, next time we go on a cruise, we'll be living in a port city :p so we'll be one of the ones they're dragging of the ship! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepeka Posted June 25, 2006 #22 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Sounds like calling decks or colors is a thing of the past. May be a bit more hectic at first, but overall everyone gets off a little quicker? On the Conquest last month, they called for self-assist first then called for debarkation by deck. It's funny, the CD told us the day prior that "we don't know what order we will call the decks, but we will announce the order around 8:30AM." Well, they never announced it and just started calling for debarkation by deck around 9:15, beginning with deck 10 and working down. We we on deck 7 so we got off about 10:30 but don't know if the remaining decks got off in order or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest YesitDonna Posted June 25, 2006 #23 Share Posted June 25, 2006 On the Triuuph in May and Isnpiration in June they both had the self assist and the colors called for those who weren't doing self assist. We were first off anyway because we are platinum :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.S.Oceanlover Posted June 25, 2006 Author #24 Share Posted June 25, 2006 They did that on the Miracle in Feb 05. We waited until 9:15. It was wonderful. You did not have to fight for seats in breakfast buffet. We waited in our cabin. I hope they do this on the Victory next week. What time did they let you leave your cabin? We had to be out by 8am. It turned out we were so late getting off the ship lunch was being served when we were getting off.:p Disney did this a couple of years ago. About 7:30am they made the announcement that the ship had cleared customs and that you could disembark at you own leisure. That was it, no calling colors. It was nice; no one was really fighting to be the first one off. Most people were eating and taking their time. This was on the Disney Wonder. Do you know if Disney is still doing this? We are on the Wonder in August. We are sailing the Liberty Dec. 3....have been on well over a dozen cruises, I really don't count anymore....and have never heard of this type of debarkation. Sounds great to me though.....I would simply clear customs....go back up top, have a nice somewhat quiet breakfast, because most people would be jammed into the stairs/exit areas...and wait. I am in no hurry to leave. I will probably have a couple hour wait at the airport and in all honesty, it is much more comfortable enjoying the last bit of booze that I have smuggled on board and reliving my fabulous cruise. They pretty much have to kick me off the ship Robin Robin, They usully don't start letting people off the ship until 8 - 8:30am. Breakfast ended on the Fantasy at 9am. The ship clears customs, you go through immigration. You can't do that until you disembark. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseluver323 Posted June 25, 2006 #25 Share Posted June 25, 2006 How was immigration? We were on the Sensation a couple of years ago out of Tampa. We ended up circling the Gulf of Mexico for 3 extra days due to Frances...so we weren't really sure when the Coast Guard was going to open the port. It took us hours and hours to get off of the ship, and then we were in immigration for at least an hour, probably more. The year before we were on the Magic out of Port Canaveral, and we simply walked off of the ship after we had eaten breakfast and then right through immigration. It was much smoother than our experience with Carnival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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